The Worship of the Church – Baptism

The ministry I’m involved in, The Forsaken Children, an outreach to Ethiopian children trapped in poverty, baptized some boys who had been living in the street but now rescued physically and spiritually. The joy on the faces of these boys was priceless. Baptism is a way the Church worships.

Jesus told his disciples immediately prior to his ascension, “go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit” (Matthew 28:19). When Peter was asked by those listening to his message on the Day of Pentecost about Jesus and his salvation, “Brothers, what shall we do,” he answered, “Repent and be baptized, every one of you, in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins. And you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit” (Acts 2:38).

Every believer is, if possible, to be baptized with water as an outward symbol of having been washed clean of sin and born into God’s family. It is a sign to both the one baptized and to those who know the baptized individual, that he or she has begun a new life in commitment to Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior. It does not provide the salvation that it proclaims, but testifies to it.

The language used of baptism at times may seem to indicate that it is what saves us:

Repent and be baptized, every one of you, in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins. (Acts 2:38)

And now what are you waiting for? Get up, be baptized and wash your sins away, calling on his name. (Acts 22:16)

But the apostles Peter and Paul make it clear that this is not the case:

God waited patiently in the days of Noah while the ark was being built. In it only a few people, eight in all, were saved through water, ²¹ and this water symbolizes baptism that now saves you also—not the removal of dirt from the body but the pledge of a clear conscience toward God. (1 Peter 3:20,21)

Peter makes it clear that it is not the water itself that is saving you, not the baptism itself, but the pledge of a clear conscience toward God, the person’s faith in the Lord Jesus that has brought them to be baptized.

¹³ Is Christ divided? Was Paul crucified for you? Were you baptized in the name of Paul? ¹⁴ I thank God that I did not baptize any of you except Crispus and Gaius, ¹⁵ so no one can say that you were baptized in my name. ¹⁶ (Yes, I also baptized the household of Stephanas; beyond that, I don’t remember if I baptized anyone else.) ¹⁷ For Christ did not send me to baptize, but to preach the gospel—not with wisdom and eloquence, lest the cross of Christ be emptied of its power. (1 Corinthians 1:13-17)

If baptism did save us, Paul should have been sent to baptize people. But he makes it clear that he was not sent to baptize but to preach the gospel. The gospel saves us, not baptism.

The mode of baptism has traditionally been either immersion in water or a pouring or sprinkling of water on the head. Some have argued that the word “baptism” means immersion. But this is not always clearly the case. In Mark 7:4 Jesus talks to the teachers of the law about how they are concerned about “the washing of cups, pitchers, kettles, and dining couches.” The word for washing is baptizo and it certainly does not make sense to say they immersed dining couches. The mode of baptism is not the most crucial thing, but rather that we be baptized.